Extensible search term suggestion engine
First Claim
1. A method in a search term suggestion engine of a computing device, the method comprising:
- receiving characters of user data as the characters are input, wherein the user data is at least part of a search term to be provided to a first application to search for the search term, wherein the first application is one of multiple applications on the computing device;
receiving, from the first application, an indication of multiple suggestion sources;
obtaining, from each of two or more of the multiple suggestion sources, one or more suggested search terms based on the received characters;
combining the one or more suggested search terms into a combined set of suggested search terms; and
returning the combined set of suggested search terms to a search user interface for presentation to a user, the returning including returning first suggested search terms received from a first one or more of the multiple suggestion sources within a threshold amount of time, waiting until second suggested search terms are received from a second one or more of the multiple suggestion sources, and returning, after returning the first suggested search terms, the second suggested search terms to the search user interface.
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Abstract
A search term suggestion engine of a computing device receives characters of user data as the characters are input. The user data is at least part of a search term to be provided to one of multiple applications to search for the search term. An indication of multiple suggestion sources is received from the one application, and one or more suggested search terms are obtained, from the multiple suggestion sources, based on the received characters. One or more suggested search terms can also be obtained from the multiple suggestion sources based on one or more linguistic alternatives for the received characters. The one or more suggested search terms are combined into a combined set of suggested search terms, and the combined set of suggested search terms is returned to a search user interface for presentation to the user.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method in a search term suggestion engine of a computing device, the method comprising:
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receiving characters of user data as the characters are input, wherein the user data is at least part of a search term to be provided to a first application to search for the search term, wherein the first application is one of multiple applications on the computing device; receiving, from the first application, an indication of multiple suggestion sources; obtaining, from each of two or more of the multiple suggestion sources, one or more suggested search terms based on the received characters; combining the one or more suggested search terms into a combined set of suggested search terms; and returning the combined set of suggested search terms to a search user interface for presentation to a user, the returning including returning first suggested search terms received from a first one or more of the multiple suggestion sources within a threshold amount of time, waiting until second suggested search terms are received from a second one or more of the multiple suggestion sources, and returning, after returning the first suggested search terms, the second suggested search terms to the search user interface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. One or more computer storage media having stored thereon multiple instructions that, responsive to execution by one or more processors of a computing device, cause the one or more processors to perform acts comprising:
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receiving characters of user data as the characters are input, wherein the user data is at least part of a search term to be provided to a first application to search for the search term, wherein the first application is one of multiple applications on the computing device; receiving, from the first application, an indication of multiple suggestion sources; obtaining, from each of two or more of the multiple suggestion sources, one or more suggested search terms based on the received characters; identifying, for each of the multiple suggestion sources, a number of suggested search terms to be included in the combined set of suggested search terms; combining the one or more suggested search terms into a combined set of suggested search terms, the combining including removing duplicate suggested search terms from the suggested search terms obtained from the two or more suggestion sources, ordering the suggested search terms in the combined set of suggested search terms based on the suggestion sources from which the suggested search terms are obtained, including in the combined set, for each of the multiple suggestion sources, the number of suggested search terms from the suggestion source if at least the number of suggested search terms is obtained from the suggestion source, and including in the combined set, for each of the multiple suggestions sources, one or more suggested search terms from another suggestion source if at least the number of suggested search terms is not obtained from the suggestion source; and returning the combined set of suggested search terms to a search user interface for presentation to a user. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A device comprising:
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one or more processors; and one or more computer storage media having stored thereon multiple instructions that, responsive to execution by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform acts comprising; receiving characters of user data as the characters are input, wherein the user data is at least part of a search term to be provided to a first application to search for the search term, wherein the first application is one of multiple applications on the computing device; receiving, from the first application, an indication of multiple suggestion sources; obtaining, from each of two or more of the multiple suggestion sources, one or more suggested search terms based on the received characters; combining the one or more suggested search terms into a combined set of suggested search terms; and returning the combined set of suggested search terms to a search user interface for presentation to a user, the returning including returning first suggested search terms received from a first one or more of the multiple suggestion sources within a threshold amount of time, waiting until second suggested search terms are received from a second one or more of the multiple suggestion sources, and returning, after returning the first suggested search terms, the second suggested search terms to the search user interface.
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Specification